Re: Re: Need help with new (secondary) SSD and how to move the Sims game to it

Hi,

Thank you for the quick response. You really are super with prompt responses, info and friendly assistance – it is very much appreciated.

The new laptop currently has only the following installed:

   Firefox

   Steam app

   EA app

   O&O ShutUp10

otherwise it is still completely empty.

A question concerning Revo Uninstaller:

I spent half of yesterday on the new laptop deleting bloatware, changing privacy settings, changing the host file to block Microsoft servers, etc., etc..

If I understand it correctly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s7gFg3TngU Revo Uninstaller will allow me to simply ‘pick & choose’ only those items which I want to delete, so that I can completely remove Steam and EA from the registry and then re-install them properly - correct? Or does it get rid of everything and basically set the system back to original?

For example; after downloading Firefox I uninstalled Edge. If the programme deletes Firefox, I would then be left without any browser whatsoever.

I completely understand your thoughts concerning the partitioning of the second (2TB) SSD.

My original reasoning was such:

Keep (just) the OS & drivers on the primary (1TB) SSD and all of my private files/games on the second (2TB) SSD. That way, if there were ever any problems with the OS or the laptop itself, I could simply remove the second SSD with all of my files. Does that make sense?

My current ‘old’ laptop (4,5 yrs.) is only using a total of 295 GB (from 476 GB ) for literally everything.

Of that, 128,5 GB is for OS & Apps alone (OS = 46,1 GB / Apps = 82,5 GB).

As such, the 2TB on the new laptop’s second SSD should probably be more than enough for some time to come (if I ever do, in fact, need all of it). In the event that I do eventually run out of space there, I could then still move some of the files to the C: drive.

My reasoning for partitioning the second (2TB) SSD into two separate drives of 1TB each was to keep games separate from personal files (i.e., documents, photos, music, etc.). I have read a number of times that, when playing games, it is much easier/quicker for the system if it doesn’t need to continually search through unnecessary files (documents, photos, etc.). If I am mistaken here, then I could just leave the second SSD as is - without partitions - and use the 2TB as one drive for games and documents together.

However, having said that, the second (2TB) SSD has already been partitioned (with a few subfolders per partition) - but other than that it is essentially still completely empty. Is it possible/difficult to reverse the partitioning?

Thank you also for the tips/links about ‘moving’ all my files from the old laptop to the new one. Actually, I was planing on just copying the files, saving them to the new laptop and leaving the original files in the old laptop as sort of ‘backup’. The old laptop is still working perfectly well and I see no need to get rid of it. However with only a Ryzen 7 - 3700U / iGPU, it simply can’t handle TS4 with all of my CC (playing with 4,2 fps is really rather frustrating). That was really my only reason for splashing out on a new laptop.

Look forward to your thoughts,

Thanks again,
Alex

@AlexvonAuen  Revo only deletes the program you target.  I've used it to remove Sims 3 and 4 on a few occasions, and it never touched anything else as far as I could tell, and no other apps broke.  I wrote a walkthrough for uninstalling Sims 4 if you want another example:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/PC/CURRENT-ISSUE-Sims-4-DLC-shows-as-installed-won-t-load-in-game/m-p/12942151#uninstall

For the drives, you can arrange them however you want; I was just suggesting that you could make use of the extra space on the 1 TB system drive rather than diverting most data to the secondary drive.

The information about faster reads when apps and files are separate is a bit misleading.  First, it doesn't help at all to have two partitions of one drive because there's still only one physical drive—one controller, one DRAM cache—doing all the heavy lifting.  Second, at the current NVMe SSD speeds, this is not a practical concern for any modern game and is probably only marginally relevant at best for any use case outside of high-level professional workloads.  The processor or graphics card, even as fast as they are, would be the limiting factor here, that is when the application isn't the limit.  Sims 4 itself is the limiting factor on hardware like yours.

Removing a partition only erases the data on the secondary partition.  So you can move everything on the secondary partition to the primary partition (or the system drive) before erasing it.  I'd still use Revo if you're erasing any games just because the registry entries, which are on the system drive, wouldn't be removed when the games were deleted.

When you copy over your saves and other user data, I'd suggest zipping the folders before transferring them.  They might be fine without this, but it does help protect against corruption, and the files will also be smaller and therefore faster to transfer if network speeds are any issue at all.

Sorry, a couple of questions still.

I removed the partion on the second (2TB) SSD and now have it as one drive D:

Using Revo Uninstaller I completely deleted EA, Steam and TS4 (including all hidden subfiles) from the new laptop and then re-installed all three apps.

Have now repeated this four times..but cannot get TS4 to open.
When I right click the TS4 desktop icon and then click 'open', the small rectangle pop-up with "launching game" eventually appears for 2-3 seconds (as usual), then disappears (as usual)...but then nothing else.

Have checked and, according to my EA account, my EA and Steam accounts are linked (s. enclosed).

Have also clicked the EA 'App recovery' and 'App updater' three times - both respond with o.k. or already updated.

I have not yet moved any of my old TS4 files/Mods/CC from the old laptop to the new one....so it can't be any corrupted MOD/CC files. Other than EA, Steam and TS4 the laptop is basically empty.

Any idea why the game is not starting?

As you mentioned in your previous message, when I downloaded TS4 it landed in:   D:\Steam\steamapps\common\The Sims 4
which is a bit hidden. Is there any possibility to move it to a different location?  D:\My Games\The Sims 4  (s. enclosed).

You mentioned earlier this could be done "...by creating a new Steam library..." ?

Hope I've not been too much of a bother to you.......
Bst rgds,
Alex

@AlexvonAuen  Here's how to create a new Steam library and move your games there:

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/4BD4-4528-6B2E-8327

If this doesn't help, please run a dxdiag and attach it to a post.

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/

Please also list the Documents directory as Windows sees it.  Search in Windows for Command Prompt, open it, and enter this:

reg query "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders" /v "Personal"

Then post the result.

You're not being a bother at all.  I do this because I enjoy solving problems and helping get people back into their games.

Hi,
I believe I may have confused myself.
When I installed TS4 on the new laptop, the "basic information" (...installation folder ??...) was placed in    D:\Steam\steamapps\common\The Sims 4    which is fine. The installation folder is never really used for anything, so it can remain fairly 'hidden'.
On the old laptop it is/was located under   C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\The Sims 4   so, basically the same setup, just a different drive.

However, I have just now noticed that (on the new laptop) the folder where all of the Mods, CC, Saves, Tray, Reports, etc. are normally located - and where all the day to day work is done when organising the game - has somehow landed / been created in the C: folder as   C:\Users\Alex\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4...
That is what I wanted on the D: drive.....so that the C: drive (..for the time being at least..) has nothing but Windows OS, drivers, etc. on it.
Is there any way to move that to the D: drive, preferably as    D:\My Games\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4.....
Alternatively, (if - for some reason - it must be under 'documents'), then  D:\My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4.....  would be fine as well.
Just as a thought.....could it be that the 'my' in My Documents is confusing the system ??

Basically, I just want everything on the D: drive (..if possible..).

The Documents directory (new laptop) is listed as:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders
Personal REG_SZ C:\Users\Alex\Documents

And....surprise !!......the game has just started (..after the umpteenth try..). Perhaps it just needed a few days to get used to the new surroundings....
At any rate, the 185 fps I'm getting on the new laptop are a wee bit of a difference from the 4,2 fps I was getting on the old laptop.
Am actually finding it a bit difficult trying to keep up with the test Sim I created, as he's running around so quickly. ;-)

Bst rgds,
Alex

@AlexvonAuen  I'm glad to hear the game is working well now.  For the user folder, you can absolutely move it to D, without moving Documents overall.  Here's how:

https://crinrict.com/blog/2020/02/moving-windows-documents-folder-to-external-drive-via-symbolic-link.html

Part of the reason I asked about the current location of Documents was that if it was in OneDrive, the command in the guide above would need to be adjusted.  But that's not the case here; it should work fine as-is.

Hello again,
Thank you once more for all the help and tips.
The game now opens without issue on the new laptop, I managed to copy all of my files/game from the old laptop and everything now 'seems' to be working.

The only problem I had was with Crinrict's directions for using a link such as:

     MKLINK /J "Alex\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4” “D:\The Sims 4”  

to get everything to automatically route from the C: drive to the D: drive.
No matter how often I tried, in the Command Prompt I kept getting the message that the path could not be found.
Preferably, I really wanted to use my own document folders and not any of the default folders from Windows/Microsoft. 
However, in the end I gave up and used the second option of simply moving the Windows default "Documents" folder from C: to D:

Thanks again!
Cheers
Alex

@AlexvonAuen  The problem with the command is you left off the first part of the file path.  The full path starts with the drive letter, like this:

C:\Users\Alex\Documents etc.

Even if you moved the folder out of Users, it would still need to be located on one of your drives, and the file path will necessarily include that drive.

Having said that, it sounds like you have a setup that's going to work fine for you.  If you'd like to fine tune things, feel free to ask for more help, but it's not necessary from a game stanpoint.